


Let’s Talk About Elwing (and by extention Dior and his choices)

by ravenditefairylights



Series: SFW Tolkien Discord [1]
Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Gen, In light of woman's day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 23:20:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13937595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenditefairylights/pseuds/ravenditefairylights
Summary: A character study on Elwing and Dior. No discourse





	Let’s Talk About Elwing (and by extention Dior and his choices)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Feanoriel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feanoriel/gifts), [elvntari](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elvntari/gifts).



Elwing is a character that either gets hated, or excused for her actions. Personally, I think that, like the feanorians, Elwing is a very complex character.

Thanking [@feanoriel](https://tmblr.co/mux9VSVWLxejQ43MgX8uBMA),  [@kanafiinwe](https://tmblr.co/mwH9rH2ZxpIdp1HRlwVMTYw), [@straightouttahimring](https://tmblr.co/mI9x4bxbLBtvEqb8jmDTJNQ) and @janeways for the contribution!

Let’s start from the beginning, and by the beginning I mean Dior. I’ve seen a lot of people hate on Elwing for her choices, but no one giving Dior shit for his, when clearly, Dior is more at fault than Elwing. Hear me out.

Dior has inherited the silmaril from his parents who passed away peacefully. However, the fact remains that Luthien and Beren did not rightfully came in position of the silmaril, they _stole_ it from Morgoth. Who, in turn, stole it from Fëanor by _murdering_ his father. That, by no means, makes it Morgoth’s silmaril, and it’s easy for us to justify it because he’s the “villain” of the book. And most of the time we justify Luthien or Dior by saying that Luthien earned it because she took it herself. I love Luthien, and I don’t blame her for stealing it, but no matter how good her purpose was, she still _stole_ it.

##  **The end doesn’t justify the means.**

This can be applied to various characters in the Silmarillion, and it can be applied here as well. The only reason Luthien was interested in the silmaril is because Thingol wanted to get rid of his son-in-law and asked it as an impossible task. ~~Not cool Thingol~~ Tolkien specifically states that no one dared to do a move when Luthien had the silmaril, which would mean that the feanorians had deemed that she had earned some time to keep it. But we see that this grace does not extend to her son.

> _But now the rumor ran among the scattered Elves of Beleriand that Dior Thingol’s heir wore the Nauglamir, and they said, ‘A Silmaril of Feanor burns again in the woods of Doriath’; and the Oath of the sons of Feanor was waked from sleep. For while Luthien wore the Necklace of the Dwarves no Elf would dare to assail her; but now hearing of the renewal of Doriath and of Dior’s pride the seven gathered again from wandering, and they sent to him to claim their own._
> 
> _(The Silmarillion, page 284, Of The Ruin Of Doriath)_

Even though Luthien stole the jewel, she earned it in a way, for taking it from Morgoth. However, Dior has done nothing to be “worth” of it, he just inherited it. At this point we should clarify that **“inheriting stolen property doesn’t make it rightfully yours to keep and die over”** (by [@kanafiinwe](https://tmblr.co/mwH9rH2ZxpIdp1HRlwVMTYw))

By right, the silmaril should return to its rightful owners, the feanorians. **Sane property laws do not withhold treasures based on the perceived moral worthiness of the owners.** The sons of Fëanor _sent a letter_ to Dior asking for the silmaril back; but Dior didn’t answer them. I mean, even if we put moral reasons aside for a moment, when Dior received the letter he should have known that there would be consequences if the feanorians didn’t have the silmaril back. Maybe he was affected by the fact that they did nothing to Thingol when he refused to give it back; but it’s not as if Thingol lived long after that anyway. But either way, the rational thing to do is evacuate even _just in case_ if he didn’t plan to give it back, or literally just _drive a bargain with the sons of Fëanor._ He could have literally driven _any_ bargain with them, and that way a kinslaying would have been avoided. Instead Dior chose to sacrifice his own life, his people, his wife and his _own children_ to keep a jewel that didn’t even belong to him.

Which brings me to my next point, critism against Elwing is based at her being a bad mother rather than a person suffering from trauma who also happens to have kids, whereas Dior is the one who should be judges as a parent since his actions condemned his sons and left Elwing at that position. [@kanafiinwe](https://tmblr.co/mwH9rH2ZxpIdp1HRlwVMTYw) along with this, proposed that since Elwing ran away from Doriath with the silmaril after the attack of the sons of Fëanor, that must have traumatized her and she is therefore, suffering from PTSD. It’s stated that this happened when she was at a very young age, and let’s not forget that her brothers were abducted and essentially killed, and Nimloth was killed as well. That means that somehow, this family got separated. The scenarios vary here, but the point is that Elwing was running away.

She arrives at Sirion, where she settles, and has to deal with the loss of not only her entire family, but her entire kingdom and civilization as well. The only thing she has is a shining white jewel that she knows her father died “protecting”, which gives the silmaril a great emotional value in her eyes. People tend to exclude children from drama and serious decisions, and we can assume that this is the same case. Elwing would not be included in the reasons the feanorians came to take the jewel, or why her father didn’t give it away; she must have learned that later on in her life. Elwing meets Earendil, who is also a survivor of an attack that destroyed his homeland, they might as well have bonded over that. The point is that they get married at _very_ young age, around 50 or 75 as @janeways pointed out. Earendil, however, practically abandons her alone with two kids as he leaves on a quest to find Valinor and plead at the Valar for mercy. A great and honorable quest, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t abandon his family for it. Even Elendil states in “The Lost Road” that he would not want to be in Earendil’s place because he abandoned his family even if it was to save the world. This, as[ @straightouttahimring](https://tmblr.co/mI9x4bxbLBtvEqb8jmDTJNQ) said, would make Elwing Arda’s first single working mother, since she had to run a kingdom and raise two kids all by herself.

And then one day, a letter arrives from Maedhros Feanorion, saying that Elwing should give up the silmaril or else have the same fate as her father. Seeing this from Elwing’s point of view, this must have been very rude and insulting. The sons of Fëanor have killed all her family, and even though the silmaril _is not rightfully hers but Maedhros’_ , there aren’t _moral_ reasons from Elwing’s POV about why she should have given the jewel back. Yes, there are _practical_ ones, but not _moral_ ones; she was justified in her hatred of the feanorians and her determination to keep the silmarili “safe” from them at any cost, mirroring her father’s actions which she believes were right. Elwing is raised as a survivor of the kinslaying of Doriath and a daughter of Dior, so _of course_ Dior was right and the feanorians are wrong. Both Elwing and the sons of Fëanor are pushed from exterior factors (the Oath and the responsibility Elwing had towards her people) as well as interior ones (pride, sentiments, a different feeling of justice). None of the above, however, justifies things such as: murder, stealing, abandoning your kids.

[@kanafiinwe](https://tmblr.co/mwH9rH2ZxpIdp1HRlwVMTYw) said ( ~~I’ve tagged you so many times I’m sorry~~ ) that when the feanorians attacked Sirion, Elwing had a flashback of Doriath and started/kept running because it was like muscle memory to her. The pressure of running a kingdom and raising two kids at such a young age, along with the consideration that Elwing was suffering from severe PTSD, makes her actions a lot more understandable.

Should Elwing have given the silmaril back or better prepare for an incoming attack? Yes. She was wrong in letting her personal feelings on the issue override the responsibily she had for the people of Sirion. Tolkien does not specify the circumstances of her jump in the sea, so we cannot assume that she was suicidal/didn’t care for her children/valued the jewel more. We know that the silmaril is tainted and lust overcomes whoever possesses it, and that could be the case here, but I don’t think Elwing valued the jewel more than her own children ~~ahem Dior ahem~~ For all we know, she could have transformed by herself; she _does_ have Maiarin blood after all. However, seeing as it was Ulmo that changed her form and she is a great-granddaughter of Melian, chances of this are not very high. (However, I do believe that the Maiarin blood was the crucial factor of her transformation, and the only reason Ulmo was able to do that.)

Elwing knows her sons have been captured. She knows that the feanorians will not hesitate to kill children (she doesn’t know it was Celegorm’s _servants_ that killed the twins and Maedhros’ repentance of that action). This puts her in a position of despair, and justifiably so. For Elwing the sons of Fëanor are most probably the source of her nightmares, the boogeymen that hide in the closets and under the beds. The attack on Sirion is a repeat of what happened to Doriath. Elwing must be terrified out of her mind, and feeling as hopeless and useless as she did back then. And her response to that flashback and trauma from her PTSD, is to run away. Foe a moment she is again a small girl escaping the destruction of Doriath, she gets lost in her traumatic memories and forgets for a moment that this is not Doriath but Sirion. She believes that her children are most probably dead by now, and in despair jumps off the cliff and into the sea; taking the silmaril with her in a final attempt to “keep it safe” away from the feanorians.

Moreover, an alternate scenario in this case would be that Elwing has calmed down maybe long enough to realize what’s going on around her. Knowing about her children’s capture, Elwing might be putting herself in a position where her children are worth more alive than dead. Adapting the shapeshifting headcanon or not If there’s even a _slight_ chance that either she or the silmaril will survive the jump, Elrond and Elros can be returned as an exchange for the jewel; which would require them alive and well. We know that Maedhros and Maglor would _not_ kill the children, and even if Elwing doesn’t know that, she thinks that the feanorians would risk losing even the slightest chance of getting back Fëanor’s silmaril.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

**Author's Note:**

> Find it on tumblr here: https://feanoriansappreciation.tumblr.com/post/171657834711/lets-talk-about-elwing-and-by-extention-dior-and


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